A woman had corrosive liquid thrown at her in a suspected race attack as she walked with her six-month-old baby.

The black victim heard the white offender make a sexual and racist comment to her before the substance was aimed at her back.

She turned round to confront her assailant who then threw more liquid on to her chest as he held a plastic container.

The woman suffered burns and is in a stable condition in hospital following the incident in a subway leading to Salford Shopping City at about 2pm last Thursday, police said.

The baby in the pram was not injured.

The offender ran off towards the direction of Broad Street, Pendleton, Salford.

He is described as being white, 5ft 10in to 6ft 2in and of stocky build, with very short, dark hair with a straight hairline and a bald patch at the back. He had blue eyes, a dimple in his chin and a red mark like a burn on his bottom lip. He also had white peeling skin on his cheek bones and had stubble.

He wore a long-sleeved dark grey jumper with a round neck, black tracksuit bottoms with a grey and white stripe down each leg and black Adidas trainers. He spoke with a British accent.

Detective Constable Jim Harris, from Salford CID, said: "This is an appalling attack on a lady who was walking with her very young baby.

"Thankfully none of the corrosive liquid hit the baby or went on the victim's face as the incident could have been a lot worse than it already is."